REM

Ynfinity

Waking up in an instant, I realized the images were just a dream. Perhaps some of the strange plants I ate for dinner had something to do with, but I couldn't be certain. This strange planet has been called home for a while now. Desert terrain surrounds the area where Ynfinity – our ship – touched down. Since that first day it has been a daunting task to find a means of survival without items we brought with us.

Ynfinity still holds many of our main supplies. We have enough food to last us several years, or even another flight back to Earth. To be honest, sometimes I wondered why we even thought it was a good idea to venture to Mars. The planet is barren, with no signs of life, except for the weird plants and fruit we found.

We planted seeds brought with us from Earth when we finally had our shack built to house tools and other supplies. It was a small shelter to help keep things organized and away from dust storms that occasionally passed through.

Overall, I would say Mars was a wasteland, nothing to see here. Scientists had assured us we would be "fine", but I knew that the unknown held a lot in store for us, even if my fear was driven by science fiction movies that I loved so much.

In the dining area of the ship I found Casey standing over a giant, alien melon. I called it alien because it was, we didn't grow it.

"You're not thinking of eating that thing, are you?" I asked.

"What?" she answered, like a child who didn't know any better.

"Did Joel finish testing them?"

"I dunno." Shrugging her shoulders, I noticed the liquid on her chin.

"You did drink from it." I stated sternly. "Are you crazy!?"

"What?" She scrunched up her face as if I was some overly protective father. "It's just a melon, dad."

"This is serious. Do you have any idea what it contains? Do you?"

Peering down into the giant melon that resembled a watermelon, except it was a much lighter shade of green, she gulped.

"No," she mumbled.

"Did you ask Joel about his findings?" I waited for her to reply, then asked, "Where the hell is he, anyway?"

As I began to leave she replied, "He's in his lab."

I turned back to face her. "Well that's where I'll be then. I need to speak to him."

"Jessie," she called out. "Wait."

Stopping, I turned around as a weird look consumed her face. "What is it?"

Slowly, Casey backed away from the melon, he hands trembling as she bumped into a cart. "There's something in there."

"Get the hell over here then," I urged in a hushed voice.

Before she could, an octopus like being began crawling out of the melon, just like in my dream. "Oh, fuck no. It can't be."

"I'm sorry, Jessie. I know I shou–"

"We need to get the hell out of here, now!"

Pulling Casey by the arm, we ran down the corridor, boots clunking on metal grates as we passed over access points. We arrived at Joel's lab to find him peering through a microscope.

He looked up, taking notice of our abrupt presence. "Hey guys, you won't believe wh–"

"No time, Joel!" I blurted. "Where is everyone else?"

"Uh... I–I don't know," shrugging. "Outside?"

"Well that's where we should be. Let's go!" I barked the order, causing the bespectacled man in white coat to jump from his stool on wheels.